BLOG ENCYCLOPEDIA: WHICH BLOGGER ARE YOU?

Have you ever noticed your favorite blogs having something in common, other than style? Or if you have your own little online diary: do you have any blogs you look up to that help you shape your own blog? I’ve been thinking about types of blogs lately, and I have come up with a humble blogger typology of my own. Keep in mind: classifying blogs in one category doesn’t mean that that’s all they have to offer, I’m just trying to discern the most obvious quality of the blog, and what their readers look for!

PICTURES

This type of blog has a high picture/text ratio, which is a fancy way of saying this is a more visual type of blog. The images are stunning (great composition, colors and focus), the lay-out is usually very clean to allow each and every snapshot to shine, and the writing is sparse and to the point: these kind of blogs are perfect for inspiration or your daily dose of escapism. The girls who run these blogs almost feel like stunning characters from a book or a movie, and their every day life is shrowded in mystery: these women don’t fart, eat or need to comb their hair, and they are basically heavenly creatures of perfection.

Pros: these blogs almost read like an extended version of a beautiful fashionspread. If you find one that suits your taste, you’ll be inspired to no end. Cons: the girls who run these blogs can seem to be very detached from any day to day existence. After all, we DO get zits, have boyfriend troubles and rainy days that don’t turn out to be perfect photo-opps. Usually these bloggers also have a seemingly endless array of designer goodies. CUE ENVY. Examples:The Cherry Blossom Girl,Karla’s Closet,Fashion Toast and basically every other majorly popular fashion blog.

WORDS

You can probably guess what this one is about: word blogs are about the writing. If you are looking for an entertaining, inspiring read, check these out! The people who run these blogs are expressing their style through their choice of subject, the way they put their ideas in coherent sentences, and how their sentences combine into a thought-provoking whole. These wordsmiths are every bit as inspiring as the pictures of their more visual colleagues, but their readers need to put in a bit more effort. After all, reading text, taking in the meaning and forming an opinion of your own takes a bit more time than scrolling through pages packed with pretty pictures. These girls will probably make it into real, paid per sentence fashion editors one day.

Pros: the inspiration you get here goes a bit deeper than just pairing prints, for example. Writing can give you an entirely new perspective on fashion, getting dressed or life in general. SHIT IS DEEPCons: you will often find different bloggers writing about the same subjects over and over again: model diversity, feminism, anonymous haters, how to do the perfect cat eye-make up, nautical for summer, what not to wear when you’re x or y: you get the picture. Finding a fresh view on fashion-related randomness isn’t easy after all. SHIT GETS STALEExamples:Style Rookie, (there seems to be something wrong with her site?) Aha Shake Heartbreaker,Go Fug Yourself and Brunette Blogging.

PERSONALITY

This is a strange category. In your bookmarks, you might find a few blogs that aren’t necessarily neatly written or filled with awe-inspiring pictures of outfits that are exactly your style. Maybe you can’t wait for a certain blog to update, even if the style or writing isn’t extraordinary. You know what is pulling you in? Personality. Some girls are just cooler than others, and you feel like they would be your friend if you’d know them in real life. The things they say make sense, and “touches” you in a way, but their writing is too personal to translate to, say, Vogue. Their pictures and style are beautiful, but not nearly as perfect in composition and focus as those of our Picture Bloggers. They just have that special something, a certain je ne sais quoi, the it-girl factor and a rawness and realness that spark an infatuation-like interest in you.

Pros: this chick is real. You feel like you almost know her, and you can relate to her in many ways. Even if she likes blacks, sheers and pleather while you are more of a peter pan collared tea dress person: she still inspires you because she is AWESOMECons: this category of blogs is very love it or leave it, and they probably garner the largest number of haters. When you wear your heart on your fashionable sleeve, you might expose yourself as an annoying brat.Examples:Lulu And Your Mom (be sure to check out her tumblr),LLYMLRS,Blushing Ambition and Style Rookie goes here as well.

Got any other categories in your mind, do these descriptions remind you of a certain blog or do you strive to have your blog fit one of these types?

Comments (12)

This is a great article. I think I take inspiration from various blog genre's and I agree some blogs can be merely another version of tumblr with sparse verbiage content; however I still find enjoyment flipping through their books. I think of my blog as a LIFE content blog, it has personality, informational articles, self enlightenment, fashion spreads, travel, pets the works. ;0) Check me out!

Thank you so much for taking the time to research and write about this. I was wondering myself the other day, what makes a successful blog? What draws people in? Since I just started my own blog this really helps me put things into perspective and get an idea on what kind of blog I want to run.

Oh Annebeth I didn't know you wrote this and then I saw you did up top and I was all, "you go girl!" that's great!! You're certainly a picture/word combination blogger and I love it. I have a feeling I am more of a picture person because I have a few written blogs elsewhere. I used to be more of a written blog than photo blog though.

This is a great post :) I have a ton of blogs saved for pictures and then a few writing ones. Then I like STALK "EmperorTomatoKetchup":http://emperortomatoketchup.tumblr.com/ on Tumblr. He's more of a picture blog, but I love his snippets of personality when he puts up texts or adds his own captions or even puts one or two pics of him, it's like some mysterious enigma I want to know haha